Setting the Record Straight
by DarkDamson
Summary: A witness to the events of Reichenbach Fall hijacks Watson's blog to defend the fallen hero. (Sequel to Invisible Woman, but not necessary to read it to enjoy this one.)


Sherlock Holmes always hated bullies. That single fact shaped so much of the man's life that I feel like it should be carved onto his tombstone.

Beyond that, I hardly know where to begin to write an epitaph for arguably the smartest, one of the bravest, and certainly the most fascinating man I have ever known.

They say he was a fraud. Mm. Don't believe everything you read in the papers. I knew the man, and knew his friends, although they would not know me. There was nothing fraudulent about the Reichenbach hero. He would argue with the term, though.

_Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them. - Sherlock Holmes_

As for James Moriarity, now there was the biggest bully of them all. Oh, right, I mean Richard Brook, the man who brought down the Reichenbach hero. Funny, isn't it? I mean Richard Brook = Reichen Bach in German. Odd coincidence, that. Of course, Richard Brook is just an actor, a dupe that Holmes paid to stage a daring daylight robbery, get caught stealing the Crown Jewels, offer no defense, and trust that Holmes would find a way to keep him from going to jail for the rest of his life. How much is the going rate, I wonder, for an actor to risk so much?

Let's really look at Richard Brook, the simple actor who had a kid's reading show. So, tell me, who among you who have children, who have sat through interminable episodes of Sponge Bob and Teletubbies, and have seen this children's show? I defy anyone to come forward who has seen it. The website wasn't even all that expertly faked. A simple look at the way back machine would show that the web page for that show didn't exist a few months ago. Richard Brook didn't exist. Anyone who really looked with care would have seen that, and not written a story tearing apart the reputation of a hero without verifying the source.

Ah, but that would require a little journalistic integrity. Not something a woman who would ambush a detective in the courthouse washroom pretending to be a fan would think of. Sherlock saw right through her, of course, using those "fake" powers of deduction that he used every single day with every single person he met. He refused to give her an interview, and told her exactly how he felt about her unscrupulous methods.

_You repel me - Sherlock Holmes_

I'm sure that she didn't hold a grudge at all. When Moriarity looked for a dupe to use to bring a hero down, it was just coincidence that he chose someone who wanted to hurt Holmes so badly. Holmes had made enemies. Not just the reporter who sought to bully and trick and blackmail him into an interview to promote her own career.

Moriarity also used the detective who thought it was fine to tell a young drug addict that he was a worthless waste of space, and call him "freak" when he had proven his worth repeatedly. Why the woman believed he would never strike back, no matter how many times she cut him down, I cannot imagine. But Holmes' words could slice like razors, and eventually she got the sharp edge of them in her face, right in front of her colleagues. So, the bully who got her nose bloodied by her own victim became another perfect tool for Moriarity's plan. She was the first to question Holmes' ability to find the kidnapped children from a mere footprint. Since she couldn't have done it, then he must have cheated. He must have had something to do with the kidnapping himself, and blamed it on Moriarity.

Because Moriarity didn't exist, right? There was no such person. Holmes made him up, pretended that he existed so that he could pretend to solve his crimes. Yeah. That's far more likely than that a criminal would want to discredit the man who kept thwarting him. Holmes even, apparently, had this actor kidnap his closest friend, strap a bomb to him, and hire other criminals to aim a rifle at him. And at Holmes himself.

Surely, any actor would be willing to kidnap people, strap explosives to them, and hire random thugs to point rifles at them. Right. Perfectly logical. And, naturally, putting one's dearest friend in deadly danger would be something anyone would do to perpetuate a hoax.

Oh, but Holmes didn't have any friends, right? He was a sociopath who cared about no one.

_I will burn the heart out of you. - James Moriarity_

_I have been reliably informed that I don't have one. - Sherlock Holmes_

_Ah, but we both know that isn't quite true. - James Moriarity_

Sherlock Holmes was a man who used logic as his guiding force, but love was the key to his direction in life. Love for the few, rare people lucky enough to have won a place in his heart. Love, and hate. Because Sherlock Holmes hated bullies. Loathed them, despised them with all his being. With good reason.

Holmes and Moriarity were the opposite faces of the same coin. Both were unmercifully bullied growing up for being different, for thinking differently, for being socially awkward, for not fitting in with the popular crowd. Both were brilliant boys. One chose to become the biggest, most feared bully of all. He killed a boy for "laughing at him" before he was even out of school. The other chose to make it his life's work to bring all the bullies down, to catch them in the act, and see them brought to justice.

_My brother has the brain of a scientist or a philosopher, yet he elects to be a detective. What might we deduce about his heart? - Mycroft Holmes_

People said that he didn't care about the victims. That was the accusation his critics always used against him, that he didn't care. Anyone who ever saw him with Mrs. Hudson, one of the first people he rescued from a bully, would know that was a lie. Anyone who saw his hands tremble when Dr. Watson was injured or in danger would know that was a lie.

Holmes was a master of dissasociation. He needed to think to save lives, not feel. So, he would cut himself off from his emotions when he needed to focus on solving the problem at hand.

_Will caring about them help save them? - Sherlock Holmes_

_Nope. - John Watson_

_Then I will continue to not make that mistake. - Sherlock Holmes_

How many victims of bullies has Holmes saved? How many kidnapped children brought back to their families? How many fathers and mothers and sons and daughters owe him their lives and their freedom? How many bullies has he brought to justice?

Not enough, apparently. People seemed to think he owed them something more. They gave him fame he didn't want, money he cared nothing about, and praise that he didn't believe. For this, the world seemed to think he owed them everything. Even his life.

And Moriarity, the ultimate bully, made sure he paid.

People believe that Sherlock Holmes killed himself. There are aspects of the situation that are not generally known. Holmes wasn't alone on that roof. Moriarity was there with him.

I was down below. It was my job to protect Dr. Watson. I saw Holmes standing precariously on the roof's edge, Moriarity egging him on to jump. Then I saw Holmes go after Moriarity. I heard a shot. Moriarity, the imaginary man, the pretend psychopath, had shot himself. I wonder how much one would have to pay an actor to pretend to be so insane that he actually killed himself in order to win a contest.

Holmes was the only one who knew me, the only one who ever looked at me, the invisible woman, and truly saw. I would like to think that I might be on the very short list of people who counted, in his heart. It's hard to say for certain, but he at least had the courtesy to let me think so.

First on that list was certainly his closest friend and loyal companion, Dr. John Watson. The detective inspector who frequently put aside his own ego in favor of swift justice, was certainly on the list as well, although he might not know it. And, of course, his brother. Sherlock Holmes and his brother were not close, but each mattered to the other in a way few other people ever did.

There were three women on that list, as well. The widow, Mrs. Hudson, became more of a mother to Holmes than his own mother had ever been. The wild and wicked Ms. Adler tempted him in ways no other woman had. And the sweet scientist loved him, but she never believed that she would be counted on this list.

_You're wrong, you know. You do count. You've always counted and I've always trusted you. - Sherlock Holmes_

People believe that Holmes killed himself because he was distraught over the world finding out that he was a fraud; that the powers of deduction he demonstrated to every person he ever met, even when they would far rather that he didn't, were fake. People believe that Holmes jumped off a building because their opinion of him was so important that he would rather die than be spoken ill of by them.

People are idiots.

He was called freak and psychopath and sociopath and a hundred other cutting knives that his armor of arrogance shed like raindrops off a brolly. Sherlock Holmes didn't give a damn what people thought of him unless they were on his short list of people who mattered.

Then, why did he jump? Moriarity was dead. The ultimate bully couldn't hurt him anymore. Why take his own life when he had won?

Because he hadn't won that game of strike, counter-strike. Moriarity, by shooting himself, made the final move; the check-mate that Holmes couldn't counter.

It was my job to keep John Watson alive, so instead of being on that roof that day, I was on the ground, watching Watson's back. I know one thing that no one else seemed to know, no one, but I suspect, Sherlock Holmes. There was a sniper rifle aimed at the back of John Watson's head as he stood and watched his dearest friend jump off a tall building.

When Holmes lay shattered on the concrete in a pool of his own blood, the sniper packed up his rifle, and let Watson walk away.

Only Moriarity could have called that sniper off. Only Moriarity had the power to save the people that mattered most to Holmes. Moriarity ended that option by putting a bullet in his own brain.

Since that day, I have discovered that one of the workmen in Mrs. Hudson's home repairing a wall, had a silenced pistol in his toolbox. When Holmes jumped off that building, the man packed up his toolbox and left Mrs. Hudson in good health. I found evidence of a sniper camped in the building across from DI Lestrade's office. Lestrade was the man who once arrested a young lost and purposeless drug addict named Sherlock Holmes, saw in him the potential for greatness, and gave him a chance to make a difference.

Mycroft Holmes was far too well-protected for Moriarity's people to get near him. Ms. Adler was far out of reach of any threat, and Molly, as far as I can tell, was not in danger. Apparently, even Moriarity didn't know that she counted.`

People say that Sherlock Holmes didn't care. They say that he had no heart, and that he had no concept of love.

But that day, I witnessed the greatest act of love I have ever seen.

_Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends._

P.S. My apologies, Dr. Watson, for hijacking your blog. I will leave you to it now. And don't worry about that sniper who had you targeted that day. he won't ever hurt anyone again. Neither will the man with the gun in his toolbox ever do any harm to good Mrs. Hudson. I have not yet found the one who set his sites on DI Lestrade, but I will. It's the least I could do ... for him.


End file.
